“And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If anything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this real again.”
–Foo Fighters, “Everlong” 

Miles since last time: 61.5
Total miles: 838.5

For a long time, I told myself that I would never wear skinny pants, no matter what size I was. They seemed specifically designed to make my legs look like sausages, and who feels good about themselves when their pants make them feel like spicy ground meat that is usually stuffed into a tube of skin? (Thanks for that G-rated definition, Merriam-Webster!)

When replenishing my wardrobe a while back, I decided to bite the bullet and try skinny pants out so that I could also invest in tall boots. That’s really all I wanted–to be able to wear my new tall boots during the winter. Much to my surprise, I discovered that skinny pants are not fabric sausage factories or the Devil’s garment. They didn’t even look that terrible. In fact, they were even quite comfortable.

It was this revelation that lead me to also reconsider similar feelings about leggings. (Well, that and my desire to never subject the public at large to the sight of my bare legs. You’re welcome, public at large–now I wear leggings with dresses.)

I began with running leggings. When these proved to be a pleasure to work out in, I moved on to tights to wear with dresses. Then cotton leggings. Then jeggings–don’t judge. Now, I basically want to be wearing leggings all day, every day, which means I really need to invest in more tunics and long shirts. (I mean, I love leggings and all, but not enough to walk around like, “HERE’S THE EXACT SHAPE OF MY BODY WITH NO FLATTERING WAY OF HIDING PROBLEM AREAS, EVERYONE.”)

Here are five reasons I’m wearing leggings right now and why you should be, too.

1) They are ridiculously comfortable.
OHMYGOSH THE COMFORT. Wearing leggings is like wearing no pants, but without that weird leg sweat that results from sitting with two different areas of skin touching each other for too long. Wearing leggings is basically like having a second, cotton skin that protects you from back-of-the-knee perspiration.

2-5) See reason number one.
You need no other reason.